Streisand Stars in $6-Million Deal
BARBRA STREISAND closed escrow last week on the former Richard Harris home in the Beverly Hills post office area.
Title was taken in the name of a trust to benefit the actress, said realtors not involved in the nearly $6-million deal. The house was sold by John Donnelly, described as the British actor’s “front man.”
Neither Stephen Shapiro, president/partner of Stan Herman & Associates, who represented the seller, nor Juan Alvarez of Alverez, Hyland & Young, who represented the buyer, would comment.
The house was built in the late 1930s by architect Wallace Neff for pioneer film maker King Vidor. Singer/songwriter Mac Davis and Broadway composer/lyricist Jerry Herman were later owners. Harris bought it in the ‘70s but never lived there.
The 1987 film “The Witches of Eastwick” was filmed in the barn-style house, on 6 acres with a view from the ocean to downtown. The house will be torn down by Streisand, according to sources.
Streisand also has homes in Holmby Hills and Malibu. Her Malibu compound has been for sale since 1987. Bruce Nelson of Asher Dann & Associates has the current listing, at $19 million.
CHRISTOPHER SKASE, known as the Donald Trump of Australia, is buying the Goetz Estate in Holmby Hills, real estate sources say.
Skase, whose Qintex Entertainment announced in April that it would buy MGM-UA Communications Co. for $1 billion, has been house hunting for months but opened escrow a few days ago, we were told, on the 17,000-square-foot Georgian-style house.
Referring to what Skase is paying for the mansion, a Beverly Hills realtor who asked for anonymity said: “He’s paying in the 8s. We’re talking millions, of course.” Asking price was $12 million.
Built in 1934, the house was owned for years by Edie Goetz, daughter of movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, and her producer-husband, William. The star-studded dinner parties they gave at the house were renowned during Hollywood’s golden era.
William Goetz died in 1969; Edie, a year ago this month. The 2-acre property is being sold by their daughters, Judith Shepherd of Beverly Hills and Barbara Windom of Malibu.
There is another house for sale at $22 million in Orange County. That was believed to be the highest price ever asked for an Orange County home when a Tustin house, listed with Beverly Hills agent Bruce Nelson, came on the market in February.
Now Marion Buie, a Newport Beach broker, has a $22-million listing: the 18,500-square-foot South Laguna home of Harry Reinsch, former president of Bechtel Corp., and his wife, Helen.
“They just aren’t using it that often,” Buie said. The Reinschs’ principal residence is in San Francisco, and they have another house in Rancho Mirage.
It should be fun to see which house becomes the county’s largest single-family sale. So far, the highest is thought to be the $6.5-million purchase in December of John Wayne’s former Newport Beach home by Robert Cohen, co-owner of the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles.
Besides the $22-million listings, an impending Orange County sale is in the running: the 18,000-square-foot house under construction on Harbor Island and in escrow for “close to its asking price” of $14.5 million, according to its listing broker. He wouldn’t say when escrow will close, but the house won’t even be completed for eight months.
Farther south . . . La Jolla is getting its share of multimillion-dollar home sales, judging from three handled by the Willis M. Allen Co.
Among them was the $9.95-million sale of an estate with a view stretching to Newport Beach. That 5-plus-acre property has waterfalls, nature trails, golf greens, a tennis court, lap and free-form pools, spas, a basketball court, an office suite, a wine-tasting room, a wine cellar and a garage that can house eight cars, including a limousine.
The seller was Douglas F. Manchester, developer of the Hotel Intercontinental (now the San Diego Marriott) and chairman of Torrey Enterprises, and the buyers were William Bennett and his wife, Sam, owners of the Circus Circus Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas.
Then there was the $5-million-plus purchase of a 33-room, 17-year-old mansion, which has an indoor/outdoor swimming pool as well as racquetball/handball and tennis courts, a golf green, a gym, spa, sauna and a shuffleboard court. The buyer was David Dunn, a longtime La Jolla resident and chairman of Prime Computer.
Finally, there was the $3.1-million-plus sale of an 8,365-square-foot home built in the ‘30s and extensively remodeled in 1973. That 1.5-acre property has fountains, tennis court and three wine cellars. It was owned by investor and former Las Vegas casino owner Allen Glick and was purchased by sports attorney Jeremy Kapstein.
